Bait
by Jasmineisland
Summary: Coda to Citizen Fang Dean's bait and switch to get Sam away from Benny worked much better then he'd hoped. And much worse.


Sam opened his eyes and looked around. The last thing he remembered was Amelia confronting him at the bar just after he'd spoken to Dean. Guessing that he'd proceeded to drink everything behind the bar he tried to rub his blurry eyes. Except his hands wouldn't move. Forcing his eyes completely open, he tried to ignore the pounding in his head and looked around. His hands wouldn't move because his arms were tied to a chair. A very large chair that his frame actually fit in, and he recognized it. He and Amelia had picked it out strictly based on the fact that his frame DID fit in the chair. As soon as his brain processed the fact that he was tied to a chair in Amelia's house, he looked around frantically. His fear rose to panic the second he saw Amelia and Don tied up on the sofa across from him. Amelia had obviously been crying and Don was staring at Sam with an expression the hunter couldn't decipher.  
"Finally. Started to think we'd killed you." A man moved closer to him and literally sneered at the Winchester. "Need to have a chat." There was another standing at the end of the sofa, not looking any friendlier.

"Chat? About…" He had no idea who either of them were.

"Benny."

It clicked in Sam's mind and his heart sped up. Vampires. The vampires that Dean had told him were after Benny joining their nest. "Benny? What about him? I don't know him."

"Bullshit! You and your brother were there."

"Brother?" Amelia's voice cut in and Sam turned to her.

Realizing that, once again, his life had dragged another innocent woman into danger, Sam felt the rug being yanked out from under him. "Yeah. Found out he's alive." He turned back to the vampires. "I mean I don't know Benny. He's a friend of my brother's."

"Cut the shit, hunter! We know you came here for backup-"

"Backup?! I'm not here for backup. I'm here because-" It all clicked in Sam's mind. For a long moment, he couldn't breathe. When he forced the air in, his body trembled. "Benny's ten states away by now." His voice was barely more than a strained whisper. Lifting tear filled eyes, he stared at Amelia. "My brother was pissed at me for not looking for him. I underestimated how pissed. And I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Dropping his head, he sighed. "I'm the bait."

* * *

Dean and Benny entered the abandoned building, ready for an ambush. Staring around the vacant room, Dean turned to the vampire.  
"What the hell?"

"I don't know. Maybe your brother got to them?"

"He didn't have time. I made sure he got out of the area before he found you."

Benny turned to the Winchester. "Never told me how that happened. You sounded like he was pretty intent on taking me out."  
As the vampire moved away, Dean shrugged. "Wasn't taking the chance. I thought he'd listen, but I… I just don't know him anymore." Sitting on a step, he sighed. "I'll catch up with him later and have it out with him. Right now we have to take out your band of followers."

After a few minutes of quiet, Benny approached the hunter. "They're gone. Cleared out."

"Guess they're on to bigger and better things?"

"I don't think so, brother. Where was Sam when you sent him away?"

Shrugging again, Dean stared at Benny. "No idea. Soon as I got free I went for the phone to text him, but it was almost a half hour, maybe? I-"

With a speed that still surprised the hunter, Benny crossed the room and gripped his shoulders. "Where did you send him?"

"Texas." Realizing that there was something big he was missing, Dean stared at Benny.

"We have to go. NOW."

"Where'd they go?"

Blue eyes met green ones. "Texas. I think they've got his scent."

Dean's heart stopped for a moment. "No, they're after you. They wouldn't-"

"If they thought he could lead them to you, then me?" Benny watched the realization cross Dean's face.

"I…." His mind refused to process what he'd done. "I…. I wanted him out of the way, he-"

Once again, the vampire grabbed him. "You sent your brother out there alone, and there are vampires tracking him. They will find him, brother. My best guess is that there are at least three of them. Is he that good?"

"Three…" Dean's mind was reeling. "Three fucking vampires are after my…. Sammy." For a moment, Dean couldn't breathe. The thought of a nest of vampires catching Sam while he was in a panic that Dean had induced….. Getting their hands on him and their fangs…..

"Dammit, Dean, get off your ass. Sam is not going to die because of me."

_No, Benny, he's going to die because of me. _

* * *

"So we call Benny, and tell him-" The vampire approached Sam.

"I don't have his number! I don't talk to him, I don't call him!" Sighing again, Sam faced one of the vampires. "I'll tell you everything I know about him if you let them go."

"Yeah, we're gonna let hunters go-"

"They're NOT hunters!" Sam pulled on the ropes holding his arms. "I'm only here because my bro-" Not anymore. "Dean sent me a text that I thought was from Amelia that she was in trouble. I fell for it. He knew I'd panic and run back here. They have nothing to do with this."

"He shot me!"

Sam glanced at Don, who started to speak. Knowing it was probably a bad idea, Sam cut him off. "With lead bullets. Bet it stung." Looking back up at the only vampire that had spoken to him at all, he smirked. "No dead man's blood, no machete. Kind of hunting 101." Sighing again, Sam tried desperately to reason with them. "They didn't even know vampires existed until I was dumb enough to lead you here. And you two were stupid enough to follow-" A fist to the side of his face stopped his sentence. After his head ricocheted from the blow, he stopped for a moment. Gathering blood in his mouth from where his teeth had cut his jaw, he spit towards the quiet vampire. The reaction he got was instant. "Like the smell? Eight more pints where that came from."

Fangs descended and Amelia screamed.

As the vampires turned towards her, Sam panicked. "Leave her alone! I'll do anything you want. I'll tell you everything about Benny, I'll…." It came to him. "I'll go with you to the Alpha."

"The alpha?"

"Yeah. Alpha Vampire? You know who he is, right?"

The quiet vampire finally spoke up. "After we get Benny-"

"Why the fuck are you so obsessed with a two bit vampire who's spent the last fifty years in Purgatory?" Sam was frustrated. "Do you even know who I am?"

"You're a fucking hunter."

It was a gamble, and Sam knew it. He was pretty much signing his own death warrant, but maybe he could at least bargain to get Amelia and Don set free. "I'm Sam Winchester."

"So?"

Shaking his head, Sam sighed. "Where is the brain of this operation? There has to be someone calling shots, here-." He actually almost laughed. "He's outside waiting for Benny, isn't he."

"Gonna get that fucker." The vampire who had done most of the talking so far smiled.

"Might was well be waiting for Godot." Sam shrugged.

"Who the fuck is that?"

Now Sam couldn't hold back his laugh. "I can't believe this. I'm stuck with the fucking three stooges. I'll say it again, really slowly so you can keep up. Benny. Is. Not. Coming. I was the fucking bait, and you were the assholes that fell for it."

Another fist crossed his face and he reeled from the force. The only reason the chair was still upright was the sheer size of it. Spitting more blood, Sam stared at the vampire. In the background, he heard Amelia crying. The way the vampires were pacing, he knew he was running out of time. They were going to kill her.

The quite vampire crossed the room to the sofa and raise his hand to slap the crying woman. Sam knew was out of options. "I'm worth a lot more then Benny."

That stopped him and he turned to the hunter. "You?"

Nodding, Sam stared at Don. "She needs to stop. Don they will kill her."

Even as he moved closer to his wife, Don glared at Sam. "What the fuck did you bring here?"

Fighting back his emotion, Sam turned to the vampire. "Your alpha will probably give you a big fat reward for bringing me to him. Or Crowley. You heard of him?"

The vampire next to him shrugged. "He's a demon, right?"

Once again the sheer stupidity of the vampires in front of him amazed him. "Try the fucking king of hell."

"And he knows you?"

"He and I have kicked each other's asses a few times." They weren't convinced. Sam sighed again. "If you have the balls for it, there are even a few angels that want a piece of me."

"This is bullshit. If so they all want a piece of you, how are you still breathing?"

With a glance at Amelia, Sam shook his head once. "Because, up until now, I was very good at what I do."

* * *

The speedometer on the Impala was somewhere around the 100 miles per hour range while Dean replayed the last conversation he'd had with Sam over in his mind. Yes, he was pissed at the kid. Yes, he wanted to beat the shit out of him. Yes, he'd used a woman that Sam loved to get him out of the way. But the thought that he'd sent him out there alone with vampires on his ass was eating at him. He almost took a curve too fast and it shook him out of his dark thoughts.

"We'll get there in time. We're only a couple hours behind him, brother."

"HE'S my brother." Dean slapped the steering wheel. "He's my flesh and blood brother that I spent my entire life looking out for. He pisses me off and I turned into a fucking princess that has to pay him back." Bobby's words flashed through his mind. That brought another stab of pain, but he pushed it down.

"You were trying to protect me, Dean. It's my-"

"I was trying to hurt him, Benny! My fucking feelings were hurt, and I wanted to hurt him! There were fifteen ways I could have gotten him out of the way. I CHOSE the way that would inflict the most damage. I know the kid. I know how to piss him off, and I know how to hurt him." He was fighting tears, but not about to admit it. "So I hurt him, and maybe got him ki-" He couldn't finish.

Benny had no idea what to say, but Dean knew that if Bobby had been sitting next to him, he'd be getting an earful.

* * *

The quiet vampire approached Sam. "Why do demons, angels, and the Alpha want a piece of you? Don't look like much to me."

"Have you even been a vampire for more than three weeks?" Sam couldn't believe what he was hearing. "I've managed to piss off a lot of things that are a whole lot more important than the three of you. Or Benny, for that matter."

"And you moved in with Amelia? KNOWING all this shit wanted you?" Don's voice was strained.

Responding to Don, but staring at the woman in front of him, Sam sighed again. "I was out. All I wanted to do was disappear. Yeah, they all wanted me, but none of them were going to come near me, either. As long as I wasn't hunting, I wasn't a threat to them."

"Hunting?" Don didn't like the way Amelia was staring at the man in front of him. Like she felt sorry for him. "What the fuck did you hunt?"

"Vampires, for starters. Demons, all kinds of shit you never heard of."

"How long?" This time is was Amelia. "How long did you do this before I met you?"

Sam's voice dropped to almost a whisper. "My whole life."

"Weren't too good at it." The quiet vampire yanked Sam's head to the side by his hair. "Looks like one of us got the drop on you." He was eyeing a faint scar on the hunter's neck.

"That's from a Vitala, you asshole." He remembered that hunt too clearly. The beating, then the feeding, then Dean coming to the rescue. His brother wasn't coming this time. His big brother had made sure his 'new brother' was protected. The one he trusted.  
Amelia stared at Sam and he remembered telling her that many of his scars, including that one, came from a bad car accident. The look on her face told Sam everything. She was finally figuring out that he was not the man he claimed to be. Once again, his failure to be honest led to an innocent woman in danger. Dean had asked him what it was with him and monsters once. Maybe monsters were the only ones that stood a chance once they met him.

"He's not answering." The quiet vampire hung up the phone that Sam hadn't even seen him take out of his pocket.

"Think Benny showed?" The other vampire was hopeful.

For a split second, Sam allowed himself to hope that Dean had something to do with the missing vampire. But that second was fleeting. It was up to him to do something before they got agitated and hurt Amelia. "I'll go with you. Willingly. To find Benny, the alpha, or wherever. You just leave them."

"Why the fuck would we do that?" While he spoke, the quiet vampire put his phone back up to his ear.

"Because I'm worth more to you alive then dead. And I promise," His eyes met the vampire's evenly with a deadly intensity. "that you will have to kill me if you touch her."

"So how do we cash in on your supposed value?" Still holding the phone, the quiet one stared at Sam.

"Depends on who you want to sell me to. But first we leave here. As long as those two are still breathing, I won't fight you."

"Sam?" Amelia's voice was soft.

Before the hunter could answer her, several things happened at once. The window behind Sam crashed and the front door burst open. Sam was still trying to process the sudden motion when the quiet vampire's head was forcibly detached from his body. Even as it dropped to the ground Amelia started screaming. Afraid that her screams would get her killed, Sam stared at Don for help, but the man was staring at something behind him with a shocked look on his face. Turning as much as he could, Sam realized that the other vampire's body was falling to the ground, also headless.

Even as his brother dropped to his knees beside the chair, Sam pieced together that the crash had been Benny literally jumping through the window and Dean had entered through the front door.

"Sam? Sammy?" A calloused hand began to brush blood from his face and neck, obviously looking for bites. "Look at me, Sammy."

"Amelia. Untie her. Get her out of here."

"Benny's got 'em. I'm worried about you." Dean's voice was soft and he pulled a knife out of his boot and cut the ropes holding his brother to the chair. "You bit?"

Shaking his head, Sam stared at the older man for a moment. "Dean?"

Hands roughly gripped his shirt and pulled him to his feet. But he'd been tied up too long and his legs objected to holding him up. As he fell to the floor, he realized that Dean was following him down and was actually holding him.  
"I'm sorry. I fucked up. Sammy, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't know."

Sam forced his arm to move and wrapped it around his brother. "Thought…." He couldn't put a voice to what he'd thought.

"Don't touch me!" Amelia's voice was shrill and both Winchesters turned to the sofa. Don and Amelia were untied, but they were both backing away from the vampire. Standing in front of his wife, Don looked at the three men in the room. When he reached for his phone, Sam pushed away from Dean and stood.

"Don, don't. We'll take care of this."

"Take care of this? They're fucking beheaded! What do you mean take care of this?"

"You saw them, Don. They were vampires. You really think cops can deal with this?"

"But you can." Amelia stared at Sam.

"Yes."

The pain on the younger man's face only added to the guilt Dean felt. "Sammy, get out of here. Get them out of here for a while. Benny and I will take care of this."

For a moment, Sam felt like he was being dismissed again, but the pain on Dean's face told him that his brother was only trying to make up for what he'd brought down on Sam's head. Nodding, he gestured to Don and the men led Amelia outside.

The air outside was tense and awkward. Sam waited for Amelia or Don to break the silence, but neither seemed inclined to speak to him. Understanding the emotions radiating off of them, Sam moved away and sighed.

It wasn't thirty minutes later Dean approached the group in the back yard. Noticing how quiet and tense the air was, he stared Sam. The sadness in the hazel eyes just made him feel worse. It suddenly hit him that his brother loved the woman sitting on a bench with another man.

The Winchester realized that he'd been so caught up in Sam not looking for him and Sam wanting out he'd never really stopped to consider just what life his brother had a chance to have. Now that the white picket fence and the woman that loved Sam was staring him in the face, Dean was forced to see just how much he'd hurt his brother this time.

"Sammy,"

"Don't. Just…. don't." Hazel eyes avoided his and the younger man turned away. "Everything taken care of?"

"Yeah, Benny's gonna ditch the bodies a couple states away. Not much we could do about the mess, but we cleaned up the best we could." Dean tried to will his brother to at least look at him.

Nodding, Sam turned away from all of it.

"Look, I'm-"

"I said don't, Dean." There was a hint of threat in Sam's tone.

"We need to get out of here."

"We? Suddenly we're a we?" Laughing, the younger man finally turned to him. "Since when? I'm surprised you didn't take off with Benny."

"I didn't mean to-" A fist slamming into his jaw stopped his words and suddenly he was looking up at his brother from the ground. Briefly he realized just how tall Sam looked what staring up from beside his feet. He climbed to his feet and faced his brother, unable to deny he deserved a fist to the face.

"You DID mean to, so man the fuck up and admit it. You knew EXACTLY what you were doing when you sent me that text. Jesus, Dean. After Jessica? After Lisa?" Before Dean could interrupt, Sam shook his head. "Yeah, I know. You'll break my nose if I ever mention her again. Too late, the vamps you fucking sent after me beat you to it."

"I didn't know they were going to-"

"Maybe not, but you knew exactly what thinking something had happened to Amelia would do to me. You did THAT on purpose, Dean!"

"You're wrong, Sam."

"You're a liar." Sam swung again, but Dean blocked him. Pissed, the younger brother took another swing.

The first few Dean blocked easily, but as Sam advanced on him, he was having a harder and harder time keep the blows from connecting. One connected to his jaw and the pain exploded. Reacting, Dean returned with a swing of his own to Sam's solar plexus. Before Sam could regain his balance, Dean backed away from him. "I'm NOT doing this with you."

"You did it, already. You've taken a lot of cheap shots at me, you even pulled a fucking gun on me, but this?" His voice broke and his entire body was trembling from the emotion coursing through it. "You… Jesus. All I could think of was… Jess….." Unable to even give voice to what he thought, Sam sighed and ran his hands through his hair.

"I've had enough of this." Don's voice broke through the silence and they turned to him. He was holding a gun trained on them.  
Even as Amelia screamed at her husband to stop, Dean moved. Stepping between Sam and the threat, he pulled his own gun and aimed it back at the distraught man.

Sam's protests joined Amelia's as they tried to get either man to put his gun down. When the woman's panicked eyes met Sam's, he made a decision. Turning his back to the couple, he stepped in front of Dean, with the barrel of his brother's gun pointing at his chest.

Moving the barrel to the ground, Dean tried to push his brother out of the way. It was like trying to move a brick wall.

"Sam." Amelia's voice stopped the silent battle between the brothers.

Still standing in front of his brother, Sam turned to her. Tears were running down her face, but her eyes met his evenly. Don's gun was on the ground and the man was staring at him.

"Go. Take your brother and get the fuck out of here. I have no idea what kind of game you were running on her, and I have no idea what the fuck happened in there, but I know you brought it here. Take it with you when you leave."

"Amelia…." Sam's voice was a strangled whisper.

Stepping back, the woman shook her head.

When Dean gripped his shoulders and began to pull, he could feel the tremors. As he led his brother out of the back yard, he sent one more look towards the couple. "Get this straight. I brought this here. Not him."

Once they were safely locked in the Impala and fifty miles away, Dean dared a glance in Sam's direction. The vacant stare on his brother's face worried him. When Sam's face got that still it was either soul encompassing rage or tearing pain. Probably both at this point, if Dean was honest. And since he deserved the rage and he'd caused the pain it was up to him to fix it. Either talking it out or taking whatever punishment Sam decided to inflict.

When he pulled over in a rest area, Sam didn't respond. But as soon as the car came to a stop, he was out and walking away from the car. For a brief moment, Dean wondered if Sam was just going to continue walking and never come back. But he stopped and tilted his head back to look up at the sky.

Moving as close as he dared, Dean sighed. "I've been a dick. Ever since I got back."

"You topped yourself this time."

Sam wasn't going to let him off the hook this time, and Dean realized this moment was a long time coming. Sam had always been one to take the high road and overlook every shitty thing Dean had ever done.

"I didn't know."

"About the vampires, I get that, Dean. Took a while, but I do know that you'd never send vampires after me on purpose."

"I'm sorry."

Sam turned to him. "I know you are. But…."

"I'm an asshole."

"Yeah."

"What do you want me to do here, Sam? Want to take another swing?"

"No, Dean. I don't want to hit you. I just… I knew you were pissed at me, but-"

"That didn't give me the right to do that to you. I was wrong. I shouldn't have done it." He huffed a bit and Sam stared at him. "On the way to Texas I kept thinking what Bobby would have said to me."

Now Sam almost laughed. "Wouldn't have been nice."

Taking that as a good sign, Dean moved closer. "Are we gonna get past this?"

For a few seconds, Sam stared at his brother. Finally he sighed. "Yeah, Dean we'll get past it. I just….."

"I know."

"Do you?" Hazel eyes searched Dean's for an answer.

"Yeah, Sammy. I do."

Satisfied with what he saw in his brother's eyes, Sam sighed and moved back towards the car.

It wasn't a great way to end a day, but Dean would take what he could get.


End file.
